THE OBJECTS OF LAW: DERRIDA, WESTERN LEGALITY, AND COLONIAL MANAGEMENT
THE OBJECTS OF LAW: DERRIDA, WESTERN LEGALITY, AND COLONIAL MANAGEMENT

Summary/Abstract: This paper highlights the problematic nature of Jacques Derrida’s reading of the law as it pertains to the material effects of colonialism. In doing so, it points to a deeper problem in postmodernity, namely, its insistence on ethereal ideals of justice that cannot sufficiently account for the material costs of colonial practices. Employing the concept of subaltern cosmopolitanism as it is developed in the works of Boaventura de Sousa Santos, this paper ends by fully developing the Derridean negotiation regarding the place of justice. By rehabilitating Derrida’s understanding of the law within the tradition of post-colonial thought, it is argued that the legal philosophy is able to begin with the problem of coloniality and employ the subject position of the other as a central feature in developing a critical theory of law.

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